


Cloaks, Maps and Other Creative Indulgences

by Eryis



Category: Aerois (High Rollers D&D Campaign), Yogscast "High Rollers" D&D Campaign
Genre: Designer! Lucius, Episodic Structure, First Date, Fluff, Gay, Lawyer! Quillek, Light Angst, M/M, Modern AU, Quillucius, amputee character, awkward boys, meet cute, soft and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-19 12:36:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20209855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eryis/pseuds/Eryis
Summary: When Lucius was told his father was retiring and he was to inherit the company, he was overwhelmed. Naturally, he confided in the advice of H’esper Legal Firm on what to do with his new acquisition, with the expectation of sound legal advice and nothing more. And while he gets this advice, he finds himself much more interested with the handsome intern with deep freckles and a statue of a bird sitting on his desk.





	1. Sunrise

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. This is my first time writing for, or interacting with, the High Rollers Fandom. But this ship has taken ahold of me and I had to write for it, so here you go. This is the first of two parts, the second will hopefully be done by friday. Hopefully the characters arent so OOC that it detracts from the fic, and I hope you enjoy and thank you for reading. ^.^
> 
> [My Tumblr.](https://eryiss.tumblr.com/)  


**Chapter One: Sunrise**

**~~~~~**

** _Friday; 16t_****_h_ ** ** _ August_ **

Watching as the large doors closed before him, Lucius couldn't help but fidget.

He had never exactly been the business, corporate type of man, much favouring more creative endeavours. So having walked through the extravagant lobby of H'esper Legal Firm – one of the most respected collections of lawyers and legal advisories in the country – was intimidating to say the least. Being surrounded by so many stuffed-shirt lawyers was about as out of his depth as he could bare to be.

Still, despite how uncomfortable he felt in the unfamiliar environment, he knew that he needed to do this. He _could_ do this, be brave for Daddy's sake. Though, he did suspect that if his father were with him, he would have advised him not to wear such an extravagant outfit.

But Daddy wasn't here, so he could wear what he wished.

The reason for his visit to the elite legal firm was a simple one. His father had recently retired from the company he had created, a successful luxury car manufacturer known for having powerful, eco-friendly engines that were unrivalled by their competitors. Deciding that he would move to Australia for the retirement years, Lucius' father had decided that it would be best to leave the company in his son's hands. An outsider may say this was an unusual choice, given Lucius' entire personality, but with his sister already living outside the country Lucius was the only member of the family who would be anywhere near the head offices and manufactories.

So, Lucius was going to sell it.

Though it sounded somewhat selfish, his father had even told him that would probably be best. Maybe if he put the effort in Lucius could keep the company afloat, but advancing it was unlikely. It was much easier to sell it to someone who knew what they were doing. That was where H'esper came into the equation, he would provide the legal advice over all possible offers Lucius was getting.

The lawyer had already asked why Lucius' father hadnt sold it himself, and Lucius had laughed it off as an oversight. He knew the actual reason, but tried not to linger on it.

With a delightful little ding from the elevator speakers, the large metal doors opened to the top floor of the skyscraper. He stepped out, hiding the slight amount of nervousness that was on his face as he walked across the hardwood floor, with his boots clicking against it softly. He held his head high and turned a corner to what he assumed was the reception of H'esper's personal office. He walked to it with as much confidence as he could portray.

That was when he first saw him.

Apparently alerted to Lucius' presence by the sound of his boots on the floor, the man sitting at the somewhat cluttered desk looked up. He had brown hair which had been slicked back and attacked with a can of hairspray; a somewhat uneven coating if Lucius wanted to be critical. He had a mess of freckles across his face and brown eyes that were a darker shade than that of his hair. It would have been unnoticeable to most, but Lucius had always made to make note of colours; a small quirk that had served him well in only a few instances.

All in all, for a stuffed-shirt lawyer type of person, he was rather cute.

"Hello," The receptionist spoke up, smiling a little. "How can I help you?"

"I'm here for an appointment with H'esper," Lucius hoped his somewhat forced confidence was believable. "Lucius Virion-Elluin Elenasto, an eleven thirty appointment I believe."

Lucius watched as the receptionist nodded and turned to his computer, clicking on a few things and typing a moment later. The blonde frowned a little when he saw that he was only typing with his right hand, something that didn't seem like it would be particularly efficient. When he looked at the man's left hand, he saw that it was made of a black plastic; or was it metal. It had a small sheen to it, so metal made sense.

"There you are," The receptionist said, looking up from the computer.

Lucius found himself snapped out of his thoughts and back into the reality of the situation, which gave him a dull sense of nervousness in his stomach. After all, the repercussions of getting the material of a prosthetic wrong wasn't nearly as bad as selling his father's company to someone who would run it into the ground.

Trying not to let it get to him, he watched as the receptionist pulled up a large leather-bound book and a pen from his desk. He quickly wrote something in the book before turning it on the desk, so it was facing Lucius. "Could you sign that please?"

With a small nod, Lucius took the pen from the receptionist. He leant down and put his signature – a beautiful and curvy symbol he was rather proud of – next to his name. That's what the receptionist must have been writing; he had rather nice handwriting. Perhaps cursive.

"Thanks," The receptionist smiled. "He should be out soon, please taking a seat."

Lucius looked to where the receptionist had motioned to, and saw a white leather sofa and coffee table made of glass. He walked to it and sat on the side closer to the receptionist's desk. His posture was perfect and his clothes lacking anything as small as a crease; he needed to make sure he looked as good as possible. In environments like this, image played a large part in how he was received. Anyone who knew the Elenasto family knew he wasn't going to be the next tycoon, so he was already wrongfooted and needed to make up for it.

Unfortunately, looking confident and feeling confident were different things entirely. And sitting in the silence of the reception area, with only his thoughts to entertain him, the ramifications of what he was going to do plagued his mind, leaving him with a sense akin to sickness in the pit of his stomach.

A thousand and one questions flashed before him. What if he sold it to someone who couldn't handle it? What if the person who brought it was a rival that he wasn't aware of? What if he couldn't sell it at all and the company went into liquidation because of his poor leadership and people lost their jobbies?

He couldn't stew like this forever though. He was here to stop all of that from happening. H'esper had been his father's personal lawyer, knew all the ins and outs of the company and would be the best person to help Lucius through the selling process. And if he needed to, he could call Daddy and ask his advice on the prospective clients; just because he was on the other side of the planet didn't meant they couldn't speak to each other.

Even if it did feel like that sometimes.

Shaking his head a little as if to reject the negativity, he looked up when he heard the sound of typing again. He assessed the man's desk with a curious expression. It was tidy enough to not look out of place in the minimalist building, but there was a small amount of clutter on it that was organised just enough to not detract the eye. It would all look very formal, if not for the small statue perched on the right side of the computer.

It was of a bird; or birdman to be more specific. It looked like something from a fantasy novel, with a single large wing – which was holding a golden spyglass in its talons – and a clear brown and yellow colour pallet going on. It should have contrasted with the room entirely, but somehow added to it. It made Lucius smile.

"Birdie," He said aloud, in a similar way that someone would point out a horse on a country road.

The receptionist looked up at the word, frowning slightly. "Excuse me?"

"Oh," Lucius' head snapped from the statue to the man. He hadnt meant to actually speak. "I just meant that I like the statue of the little birdie you've got."

"Er, thanks," The receptionist seemed a little taken aback. Still, he smiled, and it settled Lucius' stomach somewhat. "My friend made it for my birthday, I'll be sure to tell her that you like it when I next see her."

Lucius smiled a little at the unneeded admission that a friend had made it for the receptionist. It meant that either he too had been affected by the silence between them and wanted to break it by inviting Lucius into a conversation – which Lucius would love, because his own mind wasn't a playground at the moment – or simply the receptionist had heard of Lucius' impeccable style and creative judgements and knew that the praise would make his friend feel better than anything else in the world possibly could.

It was almost definitely the former, but that didn't make the latter any less true.

"It's very good," Lucius continued, walking to the desk again and looking at the statue closer. The paintwork was impeccable. "Is your friend a sculpture?"

"No, almost the opposite really. She's a robotics engineer," The receptionist laughed, looking at the statue with a small amount of fondness. Lucius frowned, certainly not expecting something so creative to come from a science person. "She doesn't like it when robots look like robots, so she's pretty good with a 3D printer. She usually uses it for casing her projects, but she wanted to make this for me as a treat."

"So you like birdies then?" Lucius probed. The content smile and soft voice the receptionist was showing relaxed his stomach further.

"They're my favourite type of animal," The receptionist smiled a little wider, having placed a hand on the statue with fondness. "I drew this guy myself though, when I was a teenager. Used him as my icon for pretty much every website I signed up to, that's why Sentry made him for me I think."

Lucius laughed a little at the admission, though had to admit that he was a little shocked. The bird's design was good, the colours complimentary and the clothing somehow fitting the design well. He knew that it was cliché to say, but he had expected all the people who worked at a law firm to be lacking any creativity, having it knocked out of their heads by all the laws and bylaws and whatever else they learned in law school. It made him feel even more comfortable in the unfamiliar environment, he wasn't the only creative in the room anymore.

"So you're an artist then?" He asked, leaning forward slightly now.

"No. Not unless you really stretch the definition," The receptionist laughed off, removing his hand from the statue. "I only used to take it seriously when I was at university, and that was because I was doing commissions."

"Then you are an artist!" Lucius insisted with a smile.

"Not really. And if I was anything, I was a cartographer," The receptionist smiled again; Lucius frowned a little. "I used to draw maps of fantasy worlds, I think people used to frame them or give them as gifts. It was fun, actually."

"You don't do it anymore then?" At Lucius' question, the receptionist shook his head. "Why not?"

Throughout their conversation, the receptionist had at least kept an eye on his monitor so he could do some kind of work, however Lucius' question had finally made him pay full attention to the blonde and look at him with a somewhat puzzled expression. Slowly he looked down to the desk, and when Lucius followed his gaze, he saw that he was motioning to the prosthetic arm resting against the table. Lucius was now sure it was made of metal; lights didn't glint off of plastic in that way.

Lucius almost tilted his head at the gesture. So the reason that the receptionist wasn't drawing was because he only had one arm; which apparently wasn't something he had been born with or that excuse wouldn't make any sense. He made his confusion known by wearing a pretty obvious frown, eyes flicking first to the keyboard and then to the large leather-bound book he had signed.

"I don't see why that should stop you," Lucius frowned, looking back to the receptionist. "You type very fast and your handwriting is very fancy, so you seem to be right-handed and still arty. So what's stopping you from making your mappies?"

The receptionist thoughts for a moment, seemingly unable to find an answer he was happy with.

"Quill," A slightly tinny voice came through a speaker on the desk, shocking both men. "Can you send in Mr Elenasto please?"

"Er," The receptionist startled slightly, leaning into a microphone and pressing a button. "Of course, sir," He turned back to Lucius. "H'esper says he's ready to see you."

"Thank you," Lucius smiled, feeling the nervousness sneak back in as he looked to the door of H'esper's office. "Make sure you think about what I said. I'm sure your mappies were very good, Birdie."

He turned towards the door, putting back his 'serious and confident' persona again, as it had slipped into something more relaxed when talking to the receptionist; he hoped the nickname hadnt offended him. Though, as he walked towards the door, he thought that maybe he should be more worried that he had offended the man by being somewhat dismissive of his lack of an arm. But Lucius just couldn't stand to think a creative soul had been hindered without good reason.

After opening the door to H'esper's office, he was first met with a large view of the city skyline and an executive looking office. Sitting at a modern desk was a man who he had met on occasion, mainly as his father's work events, who he recognised as H'esper. He wore a kind smile, which made Lucius feel more welcome than he expected.

"Mr Elenasto, a pleasure to see you," H'esper stood up and offered a hand to shake, which Lucius shook; with strength, as Daddy had taught him.

"You too," Lucius smiled, sitting in the seat opposite the desk. H'esper sat back where he had just been.

"I'm sure you're aware of what services I'll provide for you, but I'll give a brief overview to be clear about it," H'esper began. "You've obviously got a lot of interest in the company, so I'm here to inform you of what legal implications there are to selling your company to certain people, as well as the expected outcomes to what will happen with whoever you choose. You father's paid for as many meetings with me as needed, so we don't need to rush this, and hopefully we can find someone that you're happy with that can bring the company forward."

"Well, with your help I'm sure we can," Lucius smiled. Buttering him up meant he was more likely to give him better services and advice.

"Thank you for trusting me," H'esper smiled. "And in the interest of trust, I should inform you your father has insisted he be kept informed about the process, so I will be reporting to him after each of our meetings."

Although he felt a little insulted about his father's lack of trust in him, he understood it. He wasn't a businessman, the company and its patents with his father's lifework and he needed to know it wasn't going to someone who would destroy that. Still, a little bit of trust would have been nice, the blonde thought.

"One more thing before we begin, I have a small request," H'esper continued. "I've been trying to get my intern into more real-world work, and I was wondering if you would mind if he sat in during our meetings so he can get some experience. It's your choice of course. His name's Quillek, I assume you met him outside."

"Quillek?" Lucius thought for a moment. "Oh, Birdie? Oh no, I don't mind that at all."

"Great," H'esper smiled, standing up. "I'll go and get him, then."

H'esper walked to the door of his office, and Lucius was almost sure he could hear the lawyer repeat his nickname for Quillek under his breath. He smiled a little, as he looked over the view of the city, then towards the unoccupied seat to his left that Birdie would probably be sitting in during their meetings. He was glad to have the opportunity to spend more time with the man, even if it was only when discussing boring company things. He liked talking to Birdie, it was relaxing and kind of fun.

A moment later, the door to the office opened again and H'esper walked in, this time followed by Birdie. He wasn't as tall as Lucius expected, but that wasn't a bad thing; and the suit wasn't a bad look on him.

He watched as Birdie walked, holding a large folder and a notebook in his right hand, the pile of papers seemingly unsteady. Lucius could see what was going to happen, and Quillek seemed to see it as well, but neither could stop it from happening. The notepad started to slip from his grasp, and by the looks of it, it was filled with loose papers that would scatter the moment it hit the ground.

Thankfully though, Lucius' reactions weren't exactly slow. His hand shot out and he managed to catch the notebook before the papers inside could scatter, smiling at Birdie and handing it back to him when he had readjusted his folder into a safer position.

"Thanks," Quillek smiled at Lucius, a small amount of redness forming under his freckles.

"Don't worry Birdie," Lucius smiled back, watching as Quillek sat beside him.

As the blonde looked over towards H'esper, who had a small smile on his face as he watched the two of them from his seat behind the desk. This wasn't nearly as corporate as he had expected, and with Birdie beside him, he felt almost comfortable in the situation. Funny; he had been dreading it for basically a week but now that it was happening, he didn't mind it all that much.

He could deal with this for a few weeks. It was actually quite nice.

* * *

** _Wednesday; 4_****_th_ ** ** _ September_ **

"I think that's all we need to speak about today, Mr Elenasto."

Quill looked up from his notebook, in which he had been taking notes about what had been said, as H'esper ended the meeting. He watched as Lucius relaxed in the seat behind him, something the blonde had always done when his meetings with H'esper. It was obvious that this wasn't the kind of work that Lucius enjoyed doing.

So far, Quill had sat in on all four meetings between H'esper and Lucius. He was mainly taking notes on how H'esper worked, both focusing on how he interacted with Lucius as well as how he debated and negotiated with the people interested in buying the company. It was a sight to see, and it was made clear why H'esper was seen as one of the most well-respected lawyers in the country. The way that he capitalised on the inconsistencies or called out attempts at swindling a better deal from Lucius was amazing. The intern had to wonder what the legal god – as he had been described in his most recent magazine interview – had seen in him.

Still, focusing on his insecurities wasn't going to help anything. He closed his notebook and watched as H'esper and Lucius shook hands. He wore a small smile as he looked at the blonde.

The meetings shared with Lucius had become something of a highlight for Quill, despite them only having occurred for less than a month. Lucius seemed to enjoy getting to the office with time to spare, giving the two of them the chance to talk while they waited for H'esper to finish whatever he was doing. They never talked about anything serious, and it was a nice break from the seriousness of Quill's work. Lucius was a natural born entertainer.

It made Quill a bit disappointed with the progress they were making.

Now that Lucius had been informed of who wanted to buy his company, and the expected outcome of selling to these people, it meant that their next meeting would be seriously considering who he was going to sell to. That meant that, pretty soon, his weekly trips to the office would end.

It was selfish, he knew. He was interning under one of the best lawyers in the country – and getting personal advice from him no less – so he didn't really have much room to complain about missing a certain client. But still, the blonde seemed to invigorate the room and make it brighter when he came in, most likely because of all the colours he wore, but also in his personality. So many people he worked with were drab, Lucius basically acted as a rejection of this drabness.

Quill stood up and walked out of his boss's office, going towards his desk in the reception area. Lucius held the door open for him as he walked through it, to which Quill thanked him. Lucius was also different to most of H'esper's clients as he was rich, but not obnoxious about it.

"Birdie," The man in question spoke up.

Quill smiled at the nickname as he placed his notebook and folders in his desk draw, locking it for safety; attorney client confidentiality. He looked up to the taller man with a smile on his face, seeing Lucius reciprocate it.

"Yeah, Lucius?" He asked, taking a seat at his desk.

"You wouldn't happen to have a little breaky coming up, would you?" Lucius asked, hand resting on the bird statue as it often did when he stood in-front of Quill's desk. "There's a little coffee shop down the street that my friend said has the best milkshakes. I thought you could keep me company, if you want?"

Quill found himself a little blind sighted by that. He had no qualms in admitting that spending time with Lucius outside of work would be enjoyable; he was basically silent when he was in the meetings and while he enjoyed their conversations beforehand, they were never all that long. So being able to talk to him in a more relaxed environment would be good, and the slightly hopeful expression that Lucius only made Quill want to meet him more.

"Well, that sounds nice, but my lunch break is in about an hour, so I doubt you'll want to wait for that long," Quill turned to his monitor after smiling apologetically at Lucius.

"You can take an early lunch if you wish, Quillek," H'esper said from the door to his office, apparently having listened to their conversations. "I don't have any scheduled meetings this morning, so you probably wouldn't have much to do anyway."

"Are you sure?" Quill asked, looking at his boss. He got a nod in return. "Thank you," He smiled at his boss before turning to Lucius. "Guess I can join you then. It'll be nice."

"Oh Birdie you'll love it," Lucius practically gushed.

Quill chuckled at the man's enthusiasm, standing up from his deck chair and smiling up at him. Lucius continued to grin at him, seemingly incredibly enthused by the prospect of sharing coffee with Quill. The brunette couldn't help but share his enthusiasm as they walked towards the elevators side by side.

The walk to the coffee shop didn't take long after leaving the building, and Lucius filled any potential silence by explaining how his friend Nova had visited the coffee shop once and couldn't stop talking about how good the drinks were, as well as the cupcake she had tried. Quill couldn't stop himself from laughing along at the vivid description of what the food had tasted like according to Lucius' friend; Quill was almost sure Lucius was being so absurdly descriptive just to amuse him. If so, it was working.

When they got to the coffee shop, it was incredibly colourful. When Quill glanced at Lucius, he seemed quite happy at what he was looking at and pushed the double doors open with more enthusiasm than was perhaps needed. Still, it made Quill chuckle as he followed the extravagant man.

Ordering was quick, and they soon found themselves sat at one of the tables. Quill had a large mug of mocha and a shot of espresso – it was the afternoon he reserved for admin; he needed the energy – while Lucius had what was called a Rainbow Milkshake. Quill didn't know exactly what the flavour was, as there was a spiral of different colours seen through the plastic cup, but Lucius was happily sipping it with a smile on his face.

It was pretty adorable, Quill had to admit.

"Sorry Birdie, I feel like I'm always talking over you," Lucius said after draining more of his milky drink. "So, you want to be a lawyer right, how did you get into that?"

"Well, this is probably going to sound a little stupid, but I wanted to make a difference," Quill felt his cheeks redden slightly as he spoke; he sounded like an overly idealistic TV show character. "I was never the most athletic person in the world so the more physical type jobs like police or firemen didn't seem possible, When I was a kid, went through a bit of self-doubting period," He shrugged. The lack of an arm also didn't help, but mentioning that always made people feel awkward. "But the law sort of just clicked with me, it made sense, so I looked into it and I haven't really stopped," He laughed a little.

"So you want to be Birdie the superhero of law then?" Lucius laughed, and Quill had to join him. "You must be very smart to work with H'esper. Is it exciting?"

"Definitely," Quill grinned. "And it's helping me get a better understanding of which part of the law I want to work in. H'esper certainly doesn't keep all his eggs in one basket-"

"Like a birdie," Lucius interrupted with a wide grin, clearly happy with his observation. "Whoops. Didn't mean to interrupt you again, sorry."

"Don't be. It was a good point," Quill joked, and Lucius grinned as he leant forward and sipped at his milkshake. "But yeah, working with H'esper definitely lets me see all aspects of what I could do. He's a pretty good mentor too, liked to get me as involved as possible with his clients whenever they let me. Some of them are very boring people though."

Lucius laughed a little as he sipped his drink. "Boring people? In an office?"

"I know," Quill grinned. "Wonders never cease."

The two laughed, and Quill brought his drink to his lips and took a tentative sip; Lucius' friend wasn't exaggerating by saying it was 'so much better' than Starbucks. The intern looked back to Lucius, who had taken the lid off of the plastic cup and was now spooning out the remaining whipped cream – which was covered in colourful sprinkles – and eating it with a content expression on his face. Quill had no intention of fighting back the smile on his face.

Despite being a force of extravagance and flamboyance when he wanted to be, Lucius somewhat calmed Quill. Maybe the extravagance was the reason; Lucius could stick out in a crowd and be loud and not care. It made Quill feel as though he wasn't going to be judged. It would be like a rainbow judging a box of pencils for being too colourful.

That was an odd comparison, but the point was he really enjoyed being around Lucius.

"I've been wanting to ask, Birdie," Lucius continued, putting the straw down. "Have you thought about drawing any new mappies yet?"

"Erm," Quill's voice got a little higher than normal. "I mean, I thought about it a little bit but haven't done anything about it yet," Because he was scared that he couldn't do it anymore. "Anyway, you must be pretty excited that the sale is going through. What are you planning on doing once you get the pay-out?"

Was the clear deflection obvious enough? Maybe he should have written 'I'm ignoring this question' in the foam of his drink to make it completely clear.

"Well Birdie, I'm not one to sit around and do nothing," Lucius grinned, apparently not bothered with Quill not answering him. "And now that I'll have a teensy bit of money to spare," Quill laughed, that was an understatement of the year. "I think I'm going to try and follow my dream and see if I can get a job in the theatre!"

"You want to be an actor?"

"No," Lucius grinned and leant forward, not saying anything else. This was going to be a guessing game it seemed.

"Director?"

"No."

"Producer?"

"Nope."

"Erm," Quill frowned; he didn't know much about the theatre if he was honest. "Selling the ice cream at the interval."

"No," Lucius said, beaming again. "I want to be the costume designer!"

Well that was unexpected, though sort of made sense. The idea of Lucius wanting to do something creative wasn't hard to believe; he constantly was talking about colours and vibrancy and aesthetic appeal in their conversations before the meeting. And, thinking about it, Lucius' personal style had more in common with the surreal clothes worn in fashion shows than it did with someone wearing jeans and a tee-shirt.

"That's pretty cool," Quill admitted. "Are you just now getting into making clothes, or have you done it before?"

"Birdie, everything I'm wearing I made myself," Lucius placed a hand on his chest as if offended. The smile he wore betrayed this act though "You think any store in the world would have such fantastic clothes. I'm offended Birdie, you really do wound me."

"I couldn't be more sorry. I hand my head in shame, I really do," Quill laughed, looking down at his coffee "Can I ask why the theatre though. There's probably more work in TV if you want to make costumes."

"I know there is, but all the programs right now are so gloomy," Lucius rested his head on his left hand, a small pout on his features. "Imagine being the person working on the costumes for Game of Thrones, your entire life would be surrounded by monochrome fabrics. You'd throw a party every time you got to work with a colour pallet that didn't have grey in it. I just couldn't live like that; I'd go completely insane."

Quill grinned. Such a dramatic man.

"But it's not like that in the theatre. Everything's colourful and joyful, it's like this place but with singing and acting," Lucius motioned to the colourful room they sat in. "That's my idea of heaven, Birdie."

"Well, good luck with it," Quill smiled, and Lucius grinned. "After the sale goes through, you'll be able to focus on that fully I suppose."

"Yeah, guess I will," Lucius' smile fell slightly. "Sometimes I think Daddy gave me the company instead of selling it himself so I can be safe no matter what happens."

Though Lucius let out a small laugh, it was obvious it wasn't genuine. His eyes had dropped slightly, and his posture deflated a little, and it made Quill frown. Lucius had spoken about his father a few times in their conversations, and it had always seemed to be in a positive way. But, given what Lucius had said, perhaps his father didn't trust Lucius as much as the blonde would like. It must hurt to feel like that, especially given how much Lucius seemed to idolise the man. Quill didn't comment on it.

"But you're right, Birdie," Lucius continued, his smile seemingly more genuine now. "I'll be able to make a portfolio that'll skyrocket me in costume design stardom."

With the confidence he spoke with, Quill liked to think Lucius would achieve just that.

Despite Lucius' small drop in mood, conversation picked up almost immediately and continued. Quill brought himself something for lunch, as this was his lunch break, and ate it as Lucius explained point by point what he would have done if he were in charge of the costumes in a musical that he had grown to love. The enthusiasm that Lucius showed for what he was passionate in, as well as the detail he went into about small things such as stitching and lining, made Quill listen with interest.

Lucius made sure that the conversation wasn't one sided, of course. It was free flowing and natural, and the expression Lucius wore when Quill admitted he had never seen a stage show in his adult life had left Quill laughing through his sandwich. Lucius then gave him a list of shows he needed to see, and Quill promised he would at least try one of them.

"Sorry Birdie," Lucius said, cutting himself off suddenly, reaching into his jacket pocket. "I've been trying to ignore it, but someone really wants to get ahold of me."

Quill watched as Lucius opened his phone, seeing that his notifications were filled by someone named Aila, who was texting him repeatedly; there was a fair amount of profanity in the texts, even Quill could identify that from reading upside down. Lucius chuckled, seemingly unbothered by it, and sending a quick text before pocketing his phone again.

"My personal trainer," Lucius explained, smiling. "Well, she's one of my best friends as well, but I'm meant to be in a session right now and she's annoyed I haven't turned up."

"Yeah, the swearing tipped me off that she wasn't in a good mood," Quill laughed.

"Oh she's just like that sometimes. She's a delight really," Lucius laughed a little, and Quill wondered if he was missing an inside joke of some kind. "I might have to go in a few minutes, or she'll work me really hard."

"You didn't strike me as the gym type," Quill spoke, teasing slightly.

"What on earth are you implying Birdie?" Lucius placed his hand on his chest again. "I'll have you know I'm the picture of fitness. I'll show you!"

Before Quill could stop him, Lucius shrugged off the right arm of his coat and rolled the sleeve of his black shirt. He flexed his bicep to prove his 'picture of fitness' claim and, indeed, it was pretty impressive; he was stronger than his coat gave him credit for. Quill couldn't stop himself from blushing under his freckles; having the rich man essentially flex to show off to him was bound to embarrass him a little.

"Well, looks like I stand corrected," Quill admitted.

"Thank you for being so humble in defeat, Birdie," Lucius grinned. "What time is your actual lunch break, maybe we should make this a regular thing?"

"Really?" Quill asked before he could stop himself.

"Of course. You're fun to spend time with, that's why I wanted to take you hear in the first place," Lucius spoke as if it was obvious, and Quill was shocked that 'Silly Birdie' hadnt left the man's lips. "And I'll probably be finished with selling Daddy's company soon, so I won't have an excuse to see you. But if we meet up every Wednesday then we can be friends, right?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so," Quill smiled. Meeting up with Lucius once a week would be pretty nice, actually. "That'd be fun, I'd like that."

"Oh yay, that's great," Lucius smiled, before glancing down to his phone which had lit up again. When he read the text, he pouted again and looked back to Quill. "Aw. Now she's going to make me do burpees."

"Surely someone who is the picture of fitness can deal with some little burpees," Quill teased with a smile.

"I can, I just don't want to," Lucius mumbled with a small smile. "But I should go now, or she'll make me use the rowing machine. My poor leggies haven't recovered since the last time. Sorry I have to cut this short."

"Don't worry. I would have had to go back to the office soon anyway," Quill assured him as Lucius stood up. "But this was really nice."

"Yes, it was wasn't it?" Lucius smiled. "And we'll have just as much fun next week, won't we Birdie?"

"Suppose we will."

"Great," Lucius smiled, tucking his chair under the table. "It's a date. See you Birdie."

Lucius waved and retreated to the door of the coffee shop, leaving Quill with his half-drunk mocha, the wrapper of his sandwich, the empty shot of espresso, and a single thought plaguing his mind. Lucius had said 'it's a date.' When he said that, had he simply been saying it as a phrase, or had he meant that the next time they would be meeting in the coffee shop it would be a date. Quill knew that was unlikely but, in the event that Lucius did mean that they were going to go on a date, did that also mean that this counted as a date?

It was a thought that remained in his head throughout the rest of the day. Still, at least it knocked out the image of Lucius flexing…

* * *

** _Saturday; 5t_**_**h **_ ** _October_ **

Lucius flittered around his large apartment with nervousness. On the marble countertops of his kitchen stood an array of luxurious finger foods – provided to him by some of the best caterers in town – sitting beside an ice bucket holding an expensive bottle of champagne. Throughout his speaker system, some mindless smooth jazz was playing from a playlist he had found of good dinner party music on the internet. Sitting on his sofa set and watching hit TV were two of his closest friends, Nova and Aila.

The reason for his borderline erratic behaviour was that he was having something of a party. It wasn't anything big, but the people who were coming were causing Lucius' stress. Aila and Nova were, of course, not to blame. But the blonde had also invited Quill and had insisted that he bring Sentry with him so they could meet.

It was a big deal. He may have developed something of a tiny little crushy on Quill, and not only was this the first time Birdie would see him at home – which was an extension of his personality – but it was also the first time he was going to meet Birdie's friend. If he messed it up, who knows what could happen?

He was especially stressed because this could be the turning point in their relationship!

The party was happening because, earlier in the week, Lucius had finally closed the deal on his father's company. Daddy had been happy with who he had chosen to sell to, the buyer had seemed like he knew what he was doing and would respect the legacy the company had behind it, and also had good ideas on what they could do with their engines. All in all, it seemed like the best outcome, but it did mean that the weekly meetings that Lucius was having with H'esper had to end, meaning his friendship with Quill was also at risk.

They had continued to spend Quill's Wednesday lunch break going to the coffee shop as they had planned, and Lucius loved every minute of it. Spending time with the adorable Birdie – he had been promoted from just cute – was something he was quickly coming to adore.

But this was the first time they were expanding their friendship further, and Lucius couldn't mess it up.

"Lucius," Nova spoke from the sofa, leaning over the back to look at him. "If you keep pacing around like that, you'll end up fainting before they even get here because you've ran out of energy."

"Yeah," Aila nodded. "How'd we make fun of you if you're asleep before your boyfriend comes."

"He's not my boyfriend," Lucius insisted.

Lucius had, of course, told his friends about Birdie. The blonde thought he only brought his new friend up on occasion, but if Nova and Aila were to be believed then he never seemed to shut up about him. Nova had claimed that it was nice that Lucius had someone he thought so well of and would happily listen to his rambles, whereas Aila simply thought it was hilarious and used it as ammunition to embarrass him whenever possible. Lucius could deal with the teasing, though he still maintained his argument that he spoke about Quill a normal amount.

"Not yet," Nova said in a slightly teasing tone. "But that doesn't mean you don't want him to be, right?"

"That," Lucius spoke, pausing for a moment. He couldn't exactly deny it. "That is neither here nor there. If today is about anything, it's celebrating the fact I don't own a company I'm unqualified to run anymore, as well as making new friends."

"With the guy you wanna bone," Aila amended, grinning.

"You know, you two are just very mean," Lucius huffed, his cheeks red from embarrassment; he certainly hoped that they would at least try to be a bit more subtle when Birdie and his friend arrived. "I paid for all of this, and it's in my apartment, and I didn't have to invite you to be here. To think you're still so cruel to me after all the nice things I do for you both. Oh-"

Lucius cut himself off from what he was saying and walked towards what would be the larger bedroom in the apartment, if he hadnt turned it into an office/workshop of sorts. He didn't bother turning the lights on as he walked towards the old-fashioned mannequin he owned, carefully removing the blue and gold coat from it. He gave it a speedy once-over to make sure all the holding pins had been removed and his stitching wasn't obvious in the places it wasn't meant to be, before returning to his open plan living room.

The coat was Nova's, one of her favourites. She had gotten a very nasty tear that made it unwearable, so Lucius had offered to fix it up for her. He didn't even request payment for his flawless work, and yet his friends were still cruel to him.

"Here you are Nova," He said, offering the coat to its owner "Good as new."

The blue haired woman looked at her fixed coat with a wide smile. "Thanks Lucius. You really can't tell what happened, can you?"

"I wouldn't be much good if you could," Lucius smiled, before looking to Aila. "See Aila, look how happy Nova is with what I've done to her special coat, that must mean I'm good. Will you please let me make something for you?"

"Don't need it," Aila shrugged, eating a handful of peanuts.

"But I'll even stick with this… lumberjack motif you like. I just want to see you wearing something other than brown," Lucius had a small frown on his face; his friend really needed new clothes.

"Keep asking and I'll hit ya, Lucius," Aila said, looking at Lucius again who pouted in response but let it go.

He went back to fretting over if he had everything needed ready, looking over the food he had ordered and making sure they were all properly labelled; he didn't want anyone getting confused about what was vegan friendly or nut free as he wasn't sure what Sentry would eat. He probably should have asked. Oh, what if either of them was gluten intolerant and all the food he'd ordered had gluten. He didn't really know what gluten was, but he didn't want to end up poisoning someone because of his oversight.

Just as he considered looking online to see if there was a gluten hotline of some kind, the rhythmic chimes of the building's buzzer system. His eyes shot to the interface that rested beside his front door, and his heartbeat increased somewhat. He rushed to it quickly.

"Elenasto residence," He spoke into the microphone, formal just in case it wasn't his guests.

"Lucius?" Quill's voice crackled through the speaker. "It's Quill, we're on time, right?"

"Of course, one second," He pressed the button that unlocked the front door. "You can come in now, you remember my apartment number, right?"

"Yeah, see you in a minute then."

"See you soon, Birdie," Lucius smiled. He then quickly turned to his friends, crossing his arms. "Now, you both have to be nice to me today. If you're not, I'll use all of Daddy's company money to buy all the bookstores, gyms and horrible lumberjack clothes shops in the city and make sure you're banned from them all."

Both women laughed at the threat, knowing it was hollow, but Lucius was pretty sure they were going to behave themselves. Well, Nova would at least, and hopefully Aila would just decide to be kind to him for a day.

It took a few minutes for there to be a nock at the door, at which Lucius let out an undignified squeak. He rushed to the door, made sure his hair looked good in the mirror, and opened it to see the final two guests in for his party. Quill caught his eye immediately, as he was wearing clothes more smart-casual than his work clothes, and his hair was more ruffled and natural looking when compared to his working look. He was smiling an annoyingly infection smile that Lucius couldn't help but match.

When the blonde glanced towards the woman standing behind Quill, he was met with a gentle smiling face of someone who might be taller than Aila. She had an expression Lucius immediately associated with kindness, and when he glanced down, he saw she was holding a… thing in her hands.

"Hi," Quill spoke, catching Lucius' attention again. "We weren't sure if we should bring anything, so here," Quill handed Lucius a bottle of red wine, which the blonde took before stepping aside so they could get into the apartment. "Oh, sorry. Lucius, this is Sentry. Sentry, this is Lucius."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Sentry spoke in a soothing tone, shaking Lucius' hand.

"You too," Lucius smiled back. He then looked to the seating area, where both Nova and Aila had stood up so they could introduce themselves properly. "These are my friends. This is Nova and that's Aila."

"Oh, you're the one he hides the milkshakes from-"

"Birdie!" Lucius exclaimed incredulously. Such a vicious attack on their friendship already! Though Quill did look a little sheepish, so maybe it was an accident. Lucius quickly looked towards Aila before she could scold him. "I only had one," He lied. "And I only had it because Birdie said he wanted one and I didn't want him to feel left out."

Aila clearly didn't believe him but was nice enough to let it go; though Lucius expected that he would definitely be on the rowing machine next week. Maybe he really should buy the gym and burn it down before that could happen…

After placing the wine down, and making a promise to drink some of it because Birdie got it for him specially, he looked back to see how his friends were getting along. Nova had shaken both Quill and Sentry's hands and greeted them, before going back to the sofa where she probably felt more comfortable, whereas Nova was having an animated conversation with them both, and had thankfully brought up one of the two elephants in the room. Luckily for Lucius, it wasn't his huge crush on Birdie.

"So, I have to ask, what exactly are you holding?" Nova asked, looking at the thing Sentry was holding.

Lucius looked at it again, and truly couldn't identify what it was. It seemed almost as if a nest of twigs had turned into some sort of a ball. In between the twig-like ball was a small purple sphere that, at a glance, looked like a large singular eye. Lucius would almost say that it looked quite cute.

"Sorry, it's a project I'm doing at work. It's got a satellite tracking feature we need to test, and my boss insisted I take it everywhere I go," She seemed a little apologetic. "You don't have a socket I can plug it in, just to do the test, then I can put it away."

"Of course, and don't feel like you have to rush. I don't mind," Lucius reassured her, looking at the device. "Birdie's right, you are good with a 3D printer. I couldn't tell it's a robot at all."

"It's a robot!" Nova, rather predictably, shot up at that and began inspecting the machine with almost sparkling eyes.

Lucius laughed when Nova followed Sentry as she plugged the device into the wall socket, a barrage of questions that probably wouldn't end until Nova had found out the life story of both the robot and the woman who had created it. Lucius had expected that, the moment Nova knew about what Sentry did, she would be incredibly interested and would not leave her alone. That suited Lucius quite well, it meant that his friend would get along with Quill's friend and there would be less chance of her embarrassing him on purpose.

Nova's enthusiasm, and the questions that followed, seemed to have broken any ice that had been present between the five of them. While Sentry did whatever she needed to with her robot – apparently named ECHO – Lucius and Quill sat side by side in the loveseat sofa. Lucius wondered if Aila moving from the sofa to the armchair was a wing-woman act, or simply just a coincidence. Either way, the party had begun and it was all going rather well for Lucius.

They watched a movie or two, ate the food Lucius had ordered (which thankfully hadnt left anyone with glucose poisoning), and overall had a nice time. Lucius had a somewhat goofy smile on his face throughout, which Quill must have noticed. Lucius couldn't find it in himself to care, though.

"I like him," Nova commented, appearing in the kitchen nearly seemingly from nowhere.

Lucius nearly dropped the bag of popcorn that he was emptying into a bowl, glancing up from the kitchen towards the living room. It was only he and Nova in the kitchen, and Quill seemed to be busy explaining where he got the nickname 'Birdie' from to Sentry and Aila. Thankfully, he seemed too involved in that conversation to notice Nova sneak up of Lucius and nearly scare him to death. He wanted to pout at her – he could still hear them; they weren't that far away! – but instead looked at his friend with a small smile.

"You do?" He whispered, blushing a little.

"I really do," Nova smiled, nodding. "He's sweet and smart and not bad looking really. Aila likes him too, I think. And anyone who finds its funny that you call books 'bookies' is pretty much perfect for you."

"It's much more fun to say bookies," Lucius defended himself, but grinned. "But yes, he did laugh, didn't he? He even let's me talk about fabrics and colours and fashions thingies, and he seems like he's actually interested as well and not just letting me get it out of my system. And that was the first time we met outside of H'esper's office." The blonde smiled fondly at the memory.

"Maybe you should show him your studio," Nova suggested with a wide grin. "Show off what you're like in your element, as well as what you can do," Her grin widened a little. "And you'll also have a little privacy~"

She couldn't have been more obvious of what her words meant if she wiggled her eyebrows and held up an 'Ask the guy out' sign which she hit him over the head with, but he was appreciative of her non the less. While he was undoubtedly enjoying this melding of their friendship groups, it did mean that the time between he and Quill had been diluted a little. But assuming that Sentry was still entertained by Nova's questioning, showing off his studio would get them nice and alone. And when he was showing Birdie all his fancy clothes, he would sweep him off his feet like the dashing prince charming everyone knew he was.

"Birdie," He exclaimed with a grin, overly enthused by his plan. "You should see my studio!"

Quill turned, seemingly shocked by the sudden suggestion, but he smiled a moment later and stood up from the sofa. "Sure."

Now practically fizzing with excitement – Birdie hadnt even questioned why, he just agreed, so he must be at least a little interested – Lucius left the kitchen and the half-filled bowl of popcorn for Nova to deal with. He stood by the door with a larger than needed grin on his face, waiting for Quill to join him. When he did, Lucius opened the door with a large amount of flourish and flare.

Lucius was a proud man, and he was perhaps more proud of his studio than anything else.

The wall to the left of the door had a large array of different fabrics hung to the left wall, allowing Lucius to best decide what would be best in terms of colour, texture and pattern for whatever he was working on. The far wall housed his drafting table and sewing machines. The wall on the right contained a row of traditional mannequins of differing sizes, all of which were empty now Nova had taken her coat back. The wall which housed the door itself was almost entirely hidden behind a large mess of draws and cupboard, containing all the possible materials he could need.

Switching on the lights – which were spotlights aimed towards the mannequins for better lighting – Lucius couldn't stop himself from grinning as he watched Quill look around. Although he wasn't awestruck, Quill was looking around with a big smile and even running his hand across the fabrics like Lucius often did.

It made him feel all gooey inside to watch.

"This is really cool," Birdie said after looking around the room completely, and it made Lucius grin even wider. "I don't know why I expected anything else. Making clothes that fabulous," He motioned to Lucius. "I don't know why I thought you'd have anything but the best."

"Oh Birdie, you flatter me," Lucius grinned, leaning against his drafting table. Birdie sat at the vintage stool before the table. Lucius waited a few moments before speaking again. "So, are you having a nice time, then?"

"I really am," Quill smiled, leaning back. "I like your friends. They're nice."

"Sentry's nice too," Lucius smiled, tucking a long strand of blonde hair behind his ear with a slightly bashful smile. "I should have warned her about Nova though, I knew it'd happen when she found out what she does."

"Don't worry, Sentry's a patient person and she likes her work," Quill smiled.

The two sat in silence for a moment, the muted sound of the jazz playlist Lucius had put on vaguely audible through the walls. The spotlights meant that the corner of the room both men sat in was lit up softly, perhaps even romantically. Lucius got another good look at his crush in a more casual environment, and it made him smile. The slightly scruffy hair was adorable and even slightly resembled the plumage of a bird. And while Birdie looked very nice in a suit – very very nice – the softer tones of clothing he wore was much more suited to how he looked. It made Lucius feel even more gooey inside.

The blonde knew that this was as good a time as any to confess his crush. They were both happy, this was the most intimate environment they had been in together, and the champagne they'd both had a glass or two of was giving him a little push as well.

"Lucius," Quill spoke first, and Lucius looked towards him with a smile. "There's something that's been on my mind for a while. So, can I ask you something?"

"Of course Birdie," Lucius smiled; he could put off asking him out for a few moments.

"Well, it's just that when we first agreed to make the coffee shop a regular thing, you said that it was a date," Quill looked down, and Lucius frowned. Was something wrong? "I was just wondering that, well, did you just mean that in the 'see you next time' way or did you mean that it… that it was a date?"

Oh. Oh god. Lucius had no idea how to deal with that question. Did that mean that Quill was open to the idea of going to dates with Lucius? Because if so, that was great. But what if he meant he was uncomfortable having coffee now! Oh god, this could have messed everything up.

But he needed to say something. No matter what, he couldn't just sit there in silence.

"Birdie, if you were on a date with Lucius Virion-Elluin Elenasto, you would definitely know," Lucius pushed his chest out a little, forcing confidence in the same way he had when first going into H'esper's office.

The moment he said it, his confidence went away again. What if, on the odd chance that Quill had thought they had been going on dates and he had been enjoying it, Lucius saying that would hurt Quill? He didn't want Birdie to think that he didn't want to go on dates with him, because he certainly did! He wanted to go on all the possible dates with Quill. Anything from a little coffee shop to skydiving so Quill can live up to his Birdie potential.

Well, maybe not skydiving. That sounded horrible.

"Sounds like being with you would be pretty intense," Quill chuckled, seemingly not put off by what Lucius had said. He looked up and grinned at Lucius. "Interesting fact about me, I'm pretty good when things get intense."

Was that a line? A pickup line? Oh dear god was Birdie flirting?

As Lucius came to terms with what was, factually speaking, the best pickup line known to man in all of recorded history, Quill seemed to crumble in on himself. Apparently the cool, smooth side of himself could only last so long, as he buried his face in his hand and blushed red and seemed unable to look Lucius in the eye. Lucius himself wasn't doing much better, also reddening under the gentle lights while recovering from the line. Damn, Birdie could be so cool when he wanted to be!

"W-what I mean is," Quill continued, trying to recover. "Oh god I messed this up. So, basically," He still seemed to be cringing into his hands. "Wanna go on a date sometime?"

"Oh Birdie," Lucius grinned, wrapping his arms around Quill suddenly. "I'd love to!"


	2. Sunset

** _Chapter Two ~ Sunrise_ **

** _~~~~~_ **

** _Friday; 11th October_ **

Quill smiled as he walked towards the docks of Gustheaven, Lucius standing beside him with an equally content expression painted across his features. Quill knew this for sure, as he kept glancing up towards the other man to make sure he was enjoying himself. Every time he did, the brunette felt both reassured and delighted that he was the person who was accredited to putting such a beautiful expression on Lucius' face.

The two of them were on their first date; first official date at least. As Quill had been the one to ask Lucius out, he had insisted that he be the one who organised where they went. Lucius had agreed without any arguing, and the large smile Lucius had worn told Quill that it would be difficult to do something that Lucius wouldn't enjoy.

And while he wasn't a date aficionado, Quill liked to think what he had planned was perfect for them.

He had remembered the play that Lucius had insisted he watch as soon as he could from their first meeting in the coffee shop, as well as remembering that Lucius said he would watch is as many times as he could and would never be bored of it. It only seemed natural that it was involved in their first date; and the beaming expression on Lucius' face as well as the constant chatter about how perfect it was, which started the moment he saw the theatre and lasted until the show began, told Quill he had made the right decision.

The play had been good. But quill was distracted by the man he was watching it with.

After that, he had intended to take them both for a meal at a tavern that did the best pub-style food Quill had ever tasted. That was where the night had hit a slight roadblock, as the restaurant was apparently being renovated for a few days. That was something that hadnt been mentioned on the website, when Quill had booked their reservation. Earlier the same damn day.

A small amount of panic had followed after finding that out – it was a Friday night; any good restaurants would be fully booked by now – but Lucius didn't seem to mind. He stated that Aila had given him a cheat day on his diet, and if Quill didn't mind then maybe they could go to a fast food place he knew that served the best burgers in the city along with having an extensive menu of milkshakes that were apparently to die for. The fact that the man – who Quill had to remind himself often was a millionaire – was happy to eat a burger and fries made Quill's panic dissipate immediately and made the date even better.

And Lucius seemed to be enjoying it too, given he was sipping one of his two milkshakes.

He had insisted he only wanted one, but seeing his eyes flicker between them both on the menu told Quill otherwise, so he got them both.

They hadnt eaten in the fast food place itself, despite there being a lot of space. Quill, while they waited for their food to be cooked, realised that they weren't that far from the docks, which had a public pier anyone could go to. It wasn't tourist season, meaning they would probably be alone and have a perfect view of the ocean while they ate. When he proposed this to Lucius, the man had beamed perhaps more so than when Quill had ordered the multiple drinks for him.

The blonde really did have an expressive face.

That was how they found themselves walking towards the ocean, Quill holding a brown paper-bag containing their food while Lucius held the drinks. The one he was currently drinking was in his left hand, while Quill's and his other was balanced well in a cardboard carrier. Quill glanced up to see him happily sipping his caramel and Oreo milkshake, and grinned a little.

"You like watching people, don't you Birdie?" Lucius commented after removing the straw from his lips.

"Well," Quill frowned, not sure where Lucius had gotten this idea. "I suppose I do, don't I."

Quill did like watching people. Well, being more specific, he liked being aware of what was going on around him; he was more of an observer than someone who liked to interact with things. He hadnt always been that way, in his teen years he had been something of a show-off actually, but had mellowed out through time. He suspected that the focus on wanting to know what was happening around him stemmed back to the accident. He quickly rid himself of that thought; he was on a date and didn't need to bring himself down like that.

"I'm a little jealous, Birdie," Lucius admitted, still smiling. "I've never been all that good at stepping back form the front of things. I went to a yoga retreat once and it was so boring I could have just died. Sometimes it feels like I'm never calm."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing, though," Quill commented. "I don't remember the last time I was at the front of anything. Too busy looking out for everything that could go wrong."

"I suppose we balance each other out then, don't we Birdie," Lucius grinned, nudging Quill's side with his elbow.

"Guess we do," Quill smiled, before continuing. "And it's not just you that finds meditation and yoga boring. I think everyone does but we've tricked ourselves into thinking it's good for us when all we do is sit down."

"Right!" Lucius agreed loudly, and Quill laughed at the passion in his voice.

The two men walked up the old pier, which was as empty as Quill had expected it to be. They walked to the end of it, the sound of gentle waves accompanying them from the beach below. Though there was a selection of benches they could sit on, Lucius had insisted that they had made it this far and there would be no point in that if they didn't get the best possible view of the ocean. Quill agreed, so they sat on the end of the pier, with their legs dangling over the edge.

Placing the bag of food between them both, Quill looked over the ocean. It wasn't still, but the sun glinted off it as it began to set, and it look altogether rather beautiful. Quill glanced to the side and towards his date, seeing the sun lighting up Lucius' face. He, too, was altogether rather beautiful.

After enjoying the moment for a few seconds, Quill routed though the bag of food and brought out the burger he had gotten for himself. He watched as Lucius did the same with his own food, putting the large bag of fries between them both.

"Sorry it's not anything spectacular," Quill apologised again.

"You can only say that because you haven't had any of it yet, Birdie," Lucius smiled, taking a bite of his food.

"Still, I wanted to make this all fancy and it didn't exactly work out."

"You don't need to keep apologising, Quill. This is lovely," Lucius smiled, and Quill believed him. The fact Lucius had used his actual name meant he was being serious. "Besides, it's not like I still burst into tears or throw a tantrum when I don't get my way."

"Still?" Quill asked with a small smile.

"Well, I'm not proud of it, but I used to be a tiny little bit spoiled," Lucius spoke with a blush on his cheeks. "I'm not anymore, I don't think, and I've become a lot stronger and more independent now that I know Aila and Nova. You've met them, you could probably guess they wouldn't put up with me if I was that bad."

"No, I doubt they would," Quill chuckled, imagining how the tall redhead would react to the overly spoiled image of Lucius Quill was now thinking of. "How did you meet them. You seem… an odd bunch."

"Oh, through university actually," Lucius smiled. "I ran into the wrong lecture hall and Nova was the nicest person there and helped me get where I needed to be. She already knew Aila, but me and her didn't get along very well at the start. We didn't argue or anything horrible like that, but I don't think she understood why Nova liked me and I thought she could be a little brutish."

Lucius then went on to explain the turning point of his and Aila's friendship. They had gone on a weekend away together and rather than booking a hotel as Lucius had expected, Aila had taken them camping. Lucius hadnt been happy about it – it was all muddy and squelchy and he'd worn white clothes that still had yet to be cleaned correctly – but he had stuck it out non the less. What really clinched Aila's high opinion on him was when the owner of the campsite, a Mr Brookstone, tried to get them to pay almost three times what they owed, and Lucius had been the one to stand their ground and refuse to let them be taken advantage of. Apparently it was the first time Lucius had shown any backbone in front of the redheaded woman, and she respected him at least slightly from that point.

Quill had laughed along with the story, maintaining the idea that Lucius was born to entertain. The way he went on little tangents about the small details he remembered – such as the first-time mud went into his boots and how horrible it felt – and the visceral descriptions he managed to conjure were hilarious.

"So," Lucius asked after finishing his story. "How did you and Sentry meet?"

"Erm, in hospital actually," Quill admitted, looking to his lap. "We were the only two people in the ward and since the visiting hours were strict, we could only keep each other company for most of the time. And we just became friends after that."

"Oh. So it's true that every cloud has a silver lining," Lucius smiled. Quill was almost sure he responded that way as to not pry into why they were both in the hospital. He appreciated it.

"I suppose so," Quill agreed, looking out over the sun. "I've been meaning to tell you, you know how you suggested that I try and get into cartography again? Well, I've actually been looking into it and I'm going to start doing it again, I think."

"Birdie, that's fantastic!" Lucius beamed. "Have you don't anything yet? Can I see it?"

"Nothing yet," Quill laughed at his friend's enthusiasm. "All I've done is ordered the ink and asked if Sentry can help me get my old desk out of storage, but it's something. And I should say, it might take a while before I can produce anything. It's been a while, and I'll probably have to relearn how to do everything with only one arm, so don't expect anything soon."

"But when you're ready, you'll show me right?" Lucius was grinning again.

"You'll be the first person I come to, I promise," Quill smiled, and Lucius seemed to be ecstatic as the prospect.

They continued to eat their food, talking as they looked over the rising tide and the setting sun. Once their food was done, Lucius moved the bags to his side and shuffled closer to Quill, so that their sides were touching as they watched the ocean. It didn't take long for Quill to relax against the feeling of Lucius against him, and even slightly rest his head against the man's shoulder. Lucius grinned and didn't say anything.

Sitting in silence for a few moments, Quill was glad that the restaurant had been messed up. This moment, shared between them both as they watched nature at its most beautiful, was perfect. It was if a god watching over them had placed them in the right position for the best date possible.

"I'm glad we came here," Lucius commented. "My nanny used to take me here for a special treat. It was always nice, but I used to think it was missing something," Lucius looked down to Quill, who was looking back up at him. "I think that something was you, Birdie."

Quill blushed under the soft gaze of his date, the comment making Quill's heart beat that little bit faster. Lucius was still looking at him with an expression that could be seen as adoration, if Quill wanted to be arrogant. The brunette had no doubt that he too was wearing such an awestruck expression, as in that moment Lucius seemed to be the exact personification of beauty. Quill couldn't seem to look away, nor did he want to. The rest of the world was shut out around them, condensed into just the two of them and the moment they shared.

Lucius was perfect. His multi-coloured eyes glinted and so perfectly fitted Lucius in every possible way. His clear, blemish free skin was soft under the light of the evening sun. Looking further down, Quill's eyes lingered Lucius' thin, pink lips.

He inched himself forward a little.

Lucius did the same.

Both men were leaning forward slowly, Lucius raising his right hand to gently cup Quill's cheek. His touch was featherlight, but it made Quill's lips part slightly as he leant further forward. They both continued leaning further forward, getting closer by the second until, finally, their lips met in a kiss.

It was slow, cautious and a little messy. But perfect.

Though it seemed to last an eternity, they broke away after a few seconds. They pulled apart just to look at each other in the eye, both wearing smiles at what they had just done. Quill leaned forward again, bringing them into another kiss that Lucius seemed to be more than happy to reciprocate. Quill brought his hand to Lucius' shoulder so he could lean further in, while Lucius now had both hands on Quill's cheeks and was cupping them as if his face was a treasure of some kind. They were blind to the world around them, too engrossed in one another.

The second time they pulled apart, they kept their foreheads resting against each other. Both men were blushing bright red, but had no intention of moving further than absolutely needed.

"So," Lucius spoke after a few seconds. "I've never kissed a Birdie before. I would have thought that the beak-ie would have been a bigger problem."

For a second there was silence, then Quill burst out laughing.

He buried his face in the crook of Lucius' neck, who joined Quill in his laughter. Both men were loud and unabashed, overtaken by a flurry of laughter at the ridiculousness of what Lucius had just said. If anyone had been around to see them, they probably would have thought that the two men were either drunk or just idiots, but neither man cared at all. Because that moment was just between them, and couldn't be tainted.

It was perfect.

* * *

** _Sunday; 24th November_ **

Lucius wasn't the type of man to kiss and tell. He was a gentleman, a well-behaved man of the world who knew where privacy was needed, but the evidence was as plain as day. He had spent the night in an apartment that wasn't his own; he had forgone his usual nightly moisturising routine; and, to put it in polite terms, his pyjamas were folded neatly in their draw rather than being on him as they normally would be.

That was all anyone needed to know about how he woke up that day.

He wore a large smile on his face as he did wake up, and the arm that was wrapped around Quill's stomach pulled him a little closer. His boyfriend was still sleeping soundly – an adorable sight that Lucius had, more than once, considered taking a picture of – and the blonde had no intention of waking him. Nor would he leave the bed until absolutely needed.

After their first date, and subsequent first and second kiss, the idea of returning to anything platonic became absurd. They went on more dates and, within three weeks, they had become an actual couple. Lucius couldn't fight back the smile he wore every time he thought back to that.

He pressed his lips against Quill's cheek, watching him stir for a moment before calming again.

How adorable.

Lucius had, despite what many people thought, always been the type of man to wake up early. There might have been a reason, but Lucius didn't care all that much to look for it, as he was too busy adoring his boyfriend. Quill always seemed to radiate calmness in some sense, but when he was sleeping all the stress in the mans face left him, his occasional movements were slow and unhindered, and the small noises he made would never fail to make Lucius grin and feel all warm and lovely inside. Waking up and cuddling his boyfriend was one of Lucius' favourite things to do now.

With a tired smile, he shifted so that his head rested on Quill's chest and he was correctly cuddled up against him.

He thought back to the first time that they had shared a bed with one another. Quill had been a little nervous, to say the least. It was the first time he had seemed self-conscious about his arm, and it made Lucius sad. Quill had gone so far as to pretend he normally slept on the left side of the bed – which he clearly didn't as all his chargers and a bottle of water was on the right bedside table – so Lucius would sleep facing the side of his body that had an arm. Lucius had called him out immediately and made sure to kiss away all those horrible little doubts about himself.

Besides, cuddling up to Quill's left side was great! He could get as close and clingy as he pleased and didn't have to worry about squashing Birdie's arm or cutting of circulation. It was perfect.

After looking at his adorable boyfriend for a little while, Lucius gave Quill's chest a little nuzzle before closing his eyes and relaxing again. He knew he wouldn't get to sleep again, once he was awake then he was awake for good. Well, not 'for good' as in indefinitely, as he would have died from exhaustion before his first birthday, but that was beside the point. He just wanted to cuddle with his boyfriend and have a nice relaxing morning.

This was lovely~

He didn't know how long it had taken, but eventually Birdie had woken up with a small, tired whine. As Lucius looked up to see his boyfriend waking, he felt Quill's arm wrap around his waist and pull him closer.

"Morning Lucius," Quill murmured, his voice all croaky and tired and cute. "You haven't been awake for too long, have you?"

"No I don't think so," Lucius smiled. "Besides, even if I had, this is nice."

"Yeah, it is," Quill agreed, leaning down and pressing his lips to the top of Lucius' head. "Shame we can't stay here all day."

"We could if we wanted to," Lucius pouted a little, burying his face further into Birdie's chest and smiling; it was rather comfortable being down here, and he would happily stay there for as long as possible.

But as Quill had said, they couldn't stay there all day. Quill was still a lawyer and had a lot of work to get through, even when on the weekend, and Lucius had now committed fully to his aspirations of getting work in costume design. He was making his portfolio as solid and varied as he possibly could, as it was soon coming to the time of year where new productions would start to arise in theatre. And with new productions came the need for new costume designers, meaning this was a pivotal time in the year for Lucius to start working.

That was something that had become habitual for the two. When they had nothing planned for the weekend, they would work side by side on their respective projects. This usually occurred in Lucius' apartment – his studio was there, and he had more than enough desk space for Quill – but as all Lucius was doing was drafting concept designs, they had slept at Quill's apartment and would spend the day there.

"Come on," Quill continued, nudging Lucius and getting a moan of complaint in response. "You know, I've got you a present. But I can only give you it if you get up."

Lucius' eyes cracked open at that, and he looked towards Birdie with a slightly suspicious expression. Lucius liked presents, both giving and receiving, so the idea intrigued him, but he couldn't shake the idea that Quill was lying to him in an evil plot to get him from under his warm comforter. Deciding to trust his boyfriend, though, he slowly removed himself from Quill's person and sat up against the headboard, cocking an eyebrow in a silent question.

Quill chuckled and left the bed, walking to the closet with Lucius' gaze on him constantly; they were dating, he was allowed to look if he pleased! He watched as Quill pulled something out from his closet and presented it to Lucius, who lit up at the sight.

A robe! A beautiful black fluffy robe!

Admittedly, it was a small thing to get excited about. But even from his position in the bed, Lucius could tell that it was the exact same fabric as his robe at home; possibly even the same brand. Lucius loved his robe, and to have one at Birdie's apartment as well just was perfect. He leapt out of the bed, wrapped his present around his body – it was so comfy – and then wrapped himself around Quill in a hug.

"Thank you Birdie," Lucius nuzzled Quill's hair. "I love it."

"I'm glad," Quill smiled. "I'm going to have some coffee, d'you want some?"

"Yes please," Lucius said, giving Quill's head a kiss before letting him go.

They were soon in the kitchen, Lucius sitting at the small table wearing only his special new robe while Quill brewed the coffee; much to Lucius' chagrin, he had put his pyjamas and his dressing gown on. It was an old piece of clothing that, if Lucius had his way, would be replaced. But Quill seemed to like it, so Lucius could cope. Even if the stitching was frayed and wonky.

Leaning on the table, Lucius watched as Quill navigated his kitchen. Lucius loved Quill's apartment, it was homely and had lots of warm colours coming from the filled bookshelves and oak furniture. More to the point, though, was how Quill seemed so in his element in his home. It was clearly designed with him in mind, both in terms of aesthetic appeal as well as practicality. Almost everything could be used with a single hand, and the few things that couldn't were simple enough that his prosthetic could pick up the slack, not that he could be bothered to wear it in the mornings. Lucius was glad Quill no longer felt self-conscious about not wearing it.

Watching Birdie move around was fascinating. His movements were fluid and fast, as if well-rehearsed and perfected. He could flick the coffeemaker on, grab two mugs and close a cupboard in a single movement, and he clearly wasn't hindered by his lack of an arm.

"You okay?"

Birdie's sudden question had snapped Lucius out of his admiration for the other man, and he sent a slightly guilty smile towards his boyfriend. "Sorry, just thinking."

"You sure? You looked like you wanted to ask something," Quill probed, leaning on the counter and looking towards Lucius.

"Well, its just that- and don't answer this if you don't want to," Lucius began. They hadnt really talked much about this subject, and Lucius didn't know where he stood exactly. "It's that, well, I was curious about…"

"How I lost it?" Quill picked up where Lucius left off, smiling to assure his boyfriend that he hadnt offended him. "You can ask, I'm not offended by it."

"I didn't want to force you to talk about it if you didn't want to," Lucius admitted. "But yes, that's what I wanted to ask."

Quill smiled again, and the coffeemaker dinged to show that it was ready. He quickly poured out both of their drinks and brought them to the table that Lucius was sitting on. He joined, sitting opposite his boyfriend so that he could look him in the eye as he spoke. He took a single sip of his coffee – which Lucius guessed was probably too hot given the wince on Quill's face – before looking up with a gentle expression.

"It was a car accident," He began, and Lucius watched his face as he spoke. It was hard to read. "I was coming back to college after the winter break. It was pretty late, so the roads were basically empty, so I was going a little faster than I probably should have been. Always liked driving fast, made me feel like I was flying. Ironic, given what you call me."

Quill laughed a little, and Lucius joined him. He was cautious though, not speaking.

"Anyway, it started to rain. Well, that's an understatement. It was a pretty nasty storm. But I didn't slow down because I thought it was a straight road and what was the worst that could happen, I'd see a car coming a mile away," He laughed again, perhaps bitterly. Lucius couldn't tell. "What I couldn't see coming, though, was lightning."

"You got hit?" Lucius asked, eyes wide.

"Not exactly," Quill's face darkened a little. "It struck just in front me. Scared me half to death, so I swerved. Roads were wet, so I couldn't stop and went straight into one of the poles holding up a sign. The pole must have been rusted or corroded or something, because it crumbled where the car hit it, and brought the sign down right onto me. Well, my arm to be specific."

To explain his point, Quill had brought his hand to about where his left shoulder would have been. Lucius winced, not able to imagine how it would have felt to have a highway sign cut into him that deeply. He tried not to think about it, feeling a little nauseous on Quill's behalf.

"There was a hospital nearby, thankfully, so they got to me quite quick," Quill continued. "But the sign had gotten pretty deep and it wasn't exactly sterile. So, they said a lot of stuff about blood loss and possibility of infection, and the end result was they needed to amputate. I was under the anaesthesia and they were operating on me before I could really process what it meant."

"I'm sorry Quill," Lucius frowned.

"Birdie," Quill corrected. He knew Lucius wasn't the type to let this effect how he saw him but needed to make sure it wouldn't happen. "And you don't need to be, it's not like you can change it. Besides, that's how I met Sentry, we helped each other along and get better."

"Can I ask what happened to Sentry?" Lucius asked, not sure if he was pushing it.

"She was in a coma, a little bit before I got there, she woke up but still needed to be under observation," Quill explained. "She had some amnesia as well, so when she was going to therapy to help that, I was going to a physio so I could adjust."

"Must have bene hard for you both," Lucius almost whispered, thinking back to all the trivial things he used to complain about. He still sometimes did get angry at things that probably didn't matter.

"At times, but we kept ourselves cheerful. Kind of made jokes about it," Quill smiled, seemingly thinking back to his time in the hospital. "I used to come up with little general knowledge quizzes for her, and she used to challenge me to arm wrestling contests when the nurses left the room. It felt like, if we could laugh at it all, it wasn't so bad."

That was when Lucius broke, tears prickling out of his eyes and he leant over the table and pulled Quill into a slightly wonky hug. His waist was awkwardly digging into the table, but he didn't care as he wrapped his arms around Birdie and hugged the life out of him.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Birdie," He whispered.

"It's okay," Quill assured him. "I also probably wouldn't have met you if it didn't happen. I had to take a year off from college so I could get back on my feet, and the reason I got my internship with H'esper was because he came to one of my third-year lectures. He said that I impressed him somehow – I thought I was just asking too many questions; I was a bit like Nova when she found out what Sentry does – but he liked that. But if I hadnt had been held back for a year, I might have missed out on working with him and meeting you. So maybe you and Sentry act as a way for god to apologise to me."

"Well," Lucius chuckled, smiling. "That's a nice way of looking at it."

Quill grinned and Lucius would say it was almost mischievous. "What else have I done to deserve a millionaire with a dick big enough to shag be into the next life?"

Lucius was sure he looked a little like a goldfish after that, and Quill just laughed.

"You're not feeling sorry for me now, are you?" Quill continued, obviously trying to break the tension, and Lucius joined in on the laughter. The room felt considerably lighter now, even if Lucius wasn't exactly sure how to feel; a vulgar comment about how good he was in bed with almost the direct opposite of a heart to heart about a traumatic event that his boyfriend had undergone.

Quill also looked more relaxed, and while Lucius couldn't be sure if it was because he had gotten the accident out in the open, or simply because the conversation was over, the blonde couldn't help but feel glad they'd spoken about it. It would no longer hang over them.

Their normal morning routine took over again, with Quill deciding that he wanted to have pancakes for the breakfast so making more than enough for the both of them. Again, Lucius watched him as he made his way around the kitchen, not hiding how impressed he was with Birdie. Though, he doubted he would be much less impressed if Quill had two arms; Lucius was by no means a cook whereas Quill seemed rather good at it. Or maybe he was just very skilled at flipping breakfast food, something Lucius doubted he could do.

They ate together, Lucius only eating slightly slower than normal so he could prolong actually working. He did love his work and designing was one of the most fun parts, but this particular project had been causing issues. He wanted to show how he didn't rely on colour by designing clothes more gothic and drab; but the idea of creating something drab neatly made him come out in hives.

Lucius insisted on doing the dishes after they ate, and as he was attempting to scrub off a particularly resilient bit of pancake batter from a pan, a thought struck him. He looked over his shoulder towards Quill.

"Birdie," He spoke up, getting his boyfriend's attention. "What do you do at Christmas?"

It was the dishes that had reminded him. Christmas dinner was one of the few times the entire Elenasto family sat down for a home cooked meal, and Lucius had been on dish washing duty; his sister was on drying. As a child, it was the only real chore he had done, so he always made the connection.

"I don't really have anything planned," Quill admitted. "Usually me and Sentry go to dinner somewhere. She doesn't have any family left and I hardly ever see mine anymore. Is there something you wanted to do?"

"Well, I was actually thinking that maybe we could have Christmas together," Lucius beamed at his suggestion. "I know Daddy and Mummy aren't coming back, and my sister's spending it with her wife and kiddies. So I thought we could all have a big Christmas lunch as a group. I know Nova's family live in a different country and she never lets me buy a ticket for her to go back, and I think we're the closest thing Aila has for family, so at least we'll all have somewhere to go."

This had been something that Lucius had wanted to do for years now; have a group Christmas rather than a family one. While he loved his family, it always felt artificial. He knew that Nova and Aila had spent their last few Christmas's together and it had sounded lovely, with Aila cooking an apparently amazing turkey in an old fashioned and rustic way. Now he had a great chance of joining them, and having Quill and Sentry there would make it even better.

"That actually sounds really nice," Quill smiled. "I'll ask Sentry next time we meet up. What made you think about it though."

"Oh my thoughts always wonder when I'm relaxed," Lucius smiled, looking back to Quill. "And I've got the best idea for a Christmas present for you. I can't tell you it though, it's a surprise, but I know you'll just love it."

Lucius then went on to talk about exactly how great their Christmas was going to be together. About how they could decorate their apartments together and make them look perfect. And then they could drive to the countryside and find a farmer's market and get all the food Aila would need for their Christmas dinner. If they wanted to, they could even try and make a traditional Christmas pudding and set it on fire before they ate it!

He wondered if Quill knew he was the kind of man who would happily keep his decorations up into march if allowed. If not, he would figure it out soon.

Lucius had to stop his over-excited planning of what they could potentially do when he felt Quill wrap his arm around his waist and press his lips against Lucius' neck. It made the blonde relax against him again, just as he had when they were cuddling in bed.

"As much as I could spend hours discussing this with you Lucius, we promised to do work today," Quill mumbled, though Lucius thought he seemed to be enjoying this hug as much as Lucius was. "So we should probably get dressed and start before the day ends."

"Fine," Lucius pouted a little. "But the second we stop I'm teaching you how to wrap presents properly. Like colour coordinating the paper with the little ribbons and bow-ys."

"I'll look forward to it," Quill promised, and Lucius believed him with a large grin on his face.

* * *

** _Monday; 9th December_ **

"Quill, you need to stop second-guessing yourself," Sentry's voice came through the lawyer's headphones. "It's a great idea, and I'm sure he'll love it."

The brunette was sitting at his desk outside of H'esper's office. He was on his lunch break, having decided that he should call Sentry so he could get a second opinion on something that he had been debating in his head for days now. He looked at the picture on his monitor with a harsh gaze, analysing it with scrutiny and perhaps an overly critical eye. Even knowing that he was probably expecting too much of himself, he couldn't help but think something was wrong as he looked at the picture.

He used to be better than this, surely.

The picture was a map. It was of a famous fantasy world, the most popular world he had drawn when he had made such maps for his commissions. He knew this design well, which was why he had chosen it as his first attempt at drawing a fully sized map since getting back into it. But he couldn't help but focus on the flaws.

There was instances where he had caught his sleeve in the ink and smeared it unintentionally; times where his grip on the pen had either been too tight or too loose and had effected the strength of the ink; and a collection of other mistakes that jumped out at him.

"I just think that if I'm going to give him something I made, it should be perfect," Quill said back, leaning back in his chair.

"Unless after you sent me the picture, you scribbled all over the canvas, this is perfect," Sentry insisted, and Quill almost scoffed at the idea. "And even if it isn't perfect, do you really think he'll mind. He wanted you to get back into drawing, and he'd be proud and happily accept whatever you made him. You could draw him a big smiley face and he'd love it."

While that might be true, he couldn't shake the idea that just because Lucius would like something it didn't mean it was the best, he could give him. Lucius was special to him, and Quill wanted to give him a Christmas present that encapsulated his feelings towards the blonde. He wanted to give him something that told Lucius how comfortable he felt around him, how he appreciated that he could look past his flaws and simply liked Quill for being Quill. He just wanted something that he knew Lucius would love.

Though, now he thought about it, maybe an imperfect map would fit into all of those categories.

But if he could make Lucius something better, he should.

"Maybe I should start again," Quill commented, minimising the picture and getting back to his work. Even though he was on his lunchbreak, he was pretty overwhelmed with his work and would have to multi-task.

"Don't," Sentry insisted. "It's perfect. You said yourself that this was the first map you've drawn since the accident, and that he's the reason you're doing it. It's special and you know he'd love it."

"Yeah, maybe," Quill relented, though still wasn't sure. "I should get back to work. See you later."

"Bye Quill," Sentry said, obviously smiling. "He'll love it."

"If you say so."

Sentry laughed, said goodbye again and ended their phone call. Quill sighed, wanting to believe what Sentry had insisted but seemingly unable to. He didn't often doubt himself, but whenever he did it was usually rather all-encompassing. It wasn't helped that, whenever they discussed their Christmas present, Lucius seemed incredibly pleased with what he had planned. Quill wanted to give his boyfriend a gift he was equally pleased and confident in.

He tried not to linger on it, though. He opened up a contract that H'esper had emailed him with the request he looked through to see if he could find any inconsistencies or exploitations. It was something he often did now, and while it did sound boring, he actually rather enjoyed it. Contracts were logic and easy to understand.

Not like making a present for someone.

As he always did, he gave the entire contract a quick read through to understand what the main purpose was, and to see where the person who drafted would likely try and get more than they were owed. After that, he started to look at each clause in more detail.

He managed to get around twenty minutes of uninterrupted work before his phone started to buzz on his desk. He glanced down, expecting to see Sentry checking up to see if he had burned his map or something equally ridiculous, but instead was presented with Lucius' name followed by a series of rainbow emojis; below was a picture of Lucius that he had taken of the blonde without him knowing. He had an expression on his face that could only be described as soft, and Quill loved to see it whenever his boyfriend called him.

Accepting the call, he leant back in his office chair and relaxed. If past experiences were anything to believe, talking with Lucius over the phone would leave working practically impossible. Lucius' enthusiasm was boundless, even over the phone.

"Birdie!" Lucius all but shouted. "They said yes. I got it and they said yes!"

"Slow down, who said yes?" Quill frowned, eyebrows furrowing.

"Remember a couple weeks ago I sent my portfolio to all the production people who are casting for their new musicals and plays and things, well one of them was impressed. So I just had a meeting with her and brought some of the outfits I've already made and we talked about it and she like what I'd done. Birdie, they offered me a jobbie! I'm making all the costumes for the entire production. I'm so excited!"

"I can tell," Quill chuckled. "I'm really happy for you Lucius, it's great."

"Thank you Birdie," Lucius grinned. "I know you're busy so we can't go out to lunch, but would it be okay if I came and had lunch in your office with you. I've just got so many ideas and I need to get them out; I'll bring that nice soup you like for you."

"I'm sure that'll be fine," Quill smiled. "And you don't have to bribe me with soup, y'know."

"I know, but I just wanted to sweeten the deal," Lucius was almost definitely grinning.

"The deal's pretty sweet with just you in it," Quill chuckled, though was red at his own words. He then practically whined. "Please don't make a big deal about what I just said."

"Fine fine," Lucius chuckled. "But you're very cute, Birdie. See you soon."

"See you, Lucius."

Apparently the theatre that Lucius had been interviewed at wasn't all that far away from Quill's office building, as it took hum less than ten minutes to pick up a large pot of the soup that Quill had grown to love and make his way to the top floor of the building, which was just long enough for the redness in Quill's cheeks to die down. Honestly, he didn't know what it was about dating Lucius that brought out those stupid lines from Quill, but he felt himself crumbling every time he said one. At least Lucius seemed to like them, which made the self-inflicted embarrassment worth it.

When Lucius did arrive, he was holding a large clothing bag in one hand and the pot of soup in the other. He beamed at Quill when he turned the corner and, after placing the clothing he held onto the back of a spare chair, leant over Quill's desk to place a kiss on his lips. Quill smiled, leaning back with slight redness on his cheeks.

"It should be nice and hot and steamy," Lucius smiled, placing the soup before Quill, who opened it and was met with a big waft of steam.

"Thanks," Quill smiled, taking the plastic spoon from his boyfriend with a smile. "So, before you burst, tell me about it."

Lucius grinned and, without wasting a second, started to explain everything about his new job. Apparently, it was a relatively small production but had a large amount of funding behind it, meaning that Lucius had a large amount of financial freedom. The musical itself was a surrealist gothic comedy, meaning that Lucius would basically be allowed to make his clothes as weird and unusual as humanly possible. There was also a lot of costume changes and one song included a wind machine, so Lucius was going to make good use of it by having the character wear a cape that would bellow and look amazing.

The blonde seemed as though he didn't need to take a breath as he kept talking, and Quill loved watching it. The passion his boyfriend made Quill grin every time it showed itself. It was just utterly endearing.

"Anyway, how's work going for you?" Lucius asked, leaning back in his chair with a wide smile on his face. "You must have some important people coming in here. Any little bits of blackmail for me?"

"You know it's all confidential, Lucius," Quill chuckled. Lucius obviously hadnt been serious.

"I promise I won't tell anyone. And I'd never lie to my cute little Birdie," Lucius grinned, though decided to drop the subject as he opened the sandwich, he had brought in with him. "Seriously though Birdie, anything new happening yet? Am I gonna see you in a courtroom, showing off about how many bookies you've read and putting bad people in jail?"

"Doubt that'll be happening anytime soon," Quill laughed, before glancing at the monitor again. "There is something, actually, that might be pretty big. H'esper actually asked me to be on a case as an actual lawyer, rather than just the intern."

The offer had come earlier in the week, and Quill had been conflicted about it. While obviously he wanted to do it, this was part of his dream job after all, he was still unsure about his actual abilities to do so. It would consist of a lot of debating and, while he had seen H'esper and other members of the company do this a lot since he started to work there, he wasn't sure if he would be able to actually do it himself. He couldn't even flirt with his boyfriend without turning into a blushing mess, and he was possibly more comfortable with Lucius than anyone else he knew.

But as he looked towards the aforementioned boyfriend, he was met with an elated expression of pride. As always, Lucius' overly expressive face left nothing to be confused about, and it was clear that he was very happy with the news. Which also implied that he thought he could do it, which was admittedly a confidence booster.

"That's so great Birdie," Lucius confirmed his opinion. "Tell me about it. Well, as much as you're allowed to."

"I don't know much yet, other than its corporate and similar that your case. But this is apparently a lot more vicious," Quill explained. "But, H'esper did say that if it goes well and I prove that I'm ready, I might get a promotion into being more than an intern."

"Birdie!" Lucius grinned. "That's amazing."

Despite his anxiety about the job, Quill couldn't stop himself from agreeing. He smiled. "Yeah, guess it is."

"It absolutely is!" Lucius insisted.

It was. This was the first time that he had accepted that this could be a good thing for him, as Lucius' enthusiasm for the potential promotion was infectious beyond belief. He laughed a little as Lucius got up from his seat and wrapped his arms around Quill in a small hug, with the brunette reciprocated with a smile.

The two continued their lunch for a short while longer, moving away form the topic of their work life. They discussed further what they were planning for Christmas, now that all of their guests had agreed that they could make it. After that, they discussion turned into anything that came into their minds, something that Quill liked doing. Talking nonsense with someone that he truly cared for was highly underrated.

Eventually though, Quill's lunch hour ended. The brunette was glad that Lucius didn't need to be told Quill needed to get back to work; the blonde seemed to respect how much time Quill's work took. It was a small thing, but nice.

As he left, he leant over the desk and gave the man a short but delightful kiss. When he excused himself – taking the remains of the soup and spoon with him – he explained that he would be at his apartment throughout the afternoon so he could work on his secret project; Quill was almost sure that the secret project was whatever his Christmas present was. The wink the blonde sent him suggested that his guess was correct.

"Well," H'esper's voice said from behind Quill, making the man jump in his chair. "That was adorable."

The brunette slowly turned in his chair to see his boss smiling down at him, and couldn't help blush at the fact his boss had seen his conversation with his boyfriend. "Heard that, huh?"

"Only when he said goodbye," H'esper explained, walking past Quill's desk and towards the elevator. "I like him. It's nice that he's here, the two of you bring a little bit of happiness here. You should keep him."

Quill's boss didn't stop walking as he spoke, turning the corner and apparently walking towards the elevators. This left Quill alone in his office, unable to fight off the small smile that had formed on his face after his boss's words. He had no doubt that he would try to keep Lucius for as long as he possibly could.

* * *

** _Wednesday; 25th December_ **

The apartment had never looked like this before. It had so much personality in it, whereas previously it had felt a little stale. Lucius could only say that in retrospect – before the changes had occurred, he had thought his interior design skills had been rather good – but not he had seen the light and didn't think he could ever go back.

It was sort of an amalgamation of both his and Birdie's things. Law books and novels now rested on the coffee table, Quill's laptop bag hung beside Lucius' coats beside the door, and scatter cushions were everywhere; Lucius had previous hated cushions, now he loved them. But all these small changes that had occurred via apartment osmosis were nothing in comparison to the biggest change in the room: the Christmas decorations.

Previously, Lucius had decorated his home with the eye of a designer. He took into account trends, popular colour schemes and even suggestions from décor magazines. This time he had gone the traditional way; warm colours, a large tree, stockings over the fireplace and a gingerbread house on the kitchen counter.

What really made it great was that he and Quill decorated together.

Lucius had never enjoyed putting up decorations until then. It had been great.

"Do rich people have magic ovens or something," Quill said from the kitchen, holding out a baking tray covered in pastries. "They were only in there for like two minutes. It's ridiculous."

"I've told you Birdie," Lucius smiled. "You need to put some of that fancy big city lawyer money into your kitchen."

The two had awoken only a little while ago at about eight in the morning, which was shocking for Lucius as he usually woke up about four on Christmas morning and refused to get back to sleep; he supposed that his cuddly Birdie made for a good teddy bear. Nova, Aila and Sentry would be arriving at about eleven, allowing the two men the time to have a slow, lazy and relaxed morning before they had to worry about other people. They were both taking good advantage of this time shared together.

So far, they had opened family presents and the smaller gifts from one another, deciding to open their main presents from the other after a drink of coffee. Even in his tired state, Lucius had loved the amazing pair of gloves that suited his style perfectly from a new boutique called 'Arcane Focus.' Quill too had loved his present from Lucius, which was a spyglass from an antique's shop that Quill had offhandedly mentioned liking.

That must have been over a month ago. Even Quill himself had forgotten about it.

As Quill as prepared their breakfast, Lucius couldn't stop himself from glancing at the two gifts still wrapped. The large box wrapped in brown paper and with a string bow was his gift to Quill, and the rectangular gift wrapped in shiny white paper and purple ribbon was Birdie's present for him. He was excited.

"You really are like a child today, aren't you," Quill chuckled, placing the plate of pastries on the coffee table and pressing his lips against Lucius' temple.

"Yes I am," Lucius said proudly. "Christmas is a day for fun, and Children have fun the best."

Quill just laughed at his boyfriend, placing two mugs of strong coffee down and sitting beside Lucius. As they now naturally did when they were alone together, Lucius cuddled up to his left side and rested his head against Quill's shoulder. Quill couldn't help but think about how much of a postcard moment this was; they were cuddling under a blanket in front of an open fire on Christmas day. It was perfect.

As relaxing as the cuddling was, it was also rather funny for Quill. It was obvious that Lucius wanted to get to the gifts – either because he wanted his own, or because he wanted to see Quill's reaction to his – and the fidgeting and faster-than-usual eating made that obvious. It was cute.

"Go on," Quill said after a few minutes. "Before you explode."

Not needing to be told twice, Lucius removed himself from the blanket and picked up both presents from under the tree. He brought them both over, placing Quill's gift for him on the coffee table and his gift for Quill on the man's lap. The large, somewhat puppy-like grin on his face told Quill that he was to open his gift first; nobody could say no to an expression like that.

He opened the gift carefully, removing the paper to see a plain white box. When he opened the box, he saw something made of a soft brown fabric with gold trimming, and a smile found itself onto his face. When he lifted it up, his suspicions on what the gift were proven correct.

It was a cloak. The same cloak he had designed for the bird statue.

He looked over the clothing as if it were made of gold, running his hand over the soft fabric with a soft smile on his face. It was exactly the same as the one he had first designed for his old character, with even the correct pattern throughout the edge of the cloak. It was almost surreal to be holding something that he had thought up in his head, and he looked towards his boyfriend with a smile on his face that was barely restraining a slight number of tears.

"Lucius," Quill's voice quivered slightly. "This is so nice. I-I don't really know what to say. It's perfect."

"Well, I did have to make a few changes. The shade of gold is a little off," Lucius explained, though Quill didn't know how he could see that. It looked identical to him. "And I did have to make a few adjustments to the fittings. I wanted to make it so you could wear it comfortably with and without the prosthetic."

That was when the first tear came. It was stupid, really. But part of the reason Quill liked to wear his prosthetic in public was because of clothing. Wearing a coat of jacket with one sleeve empty drew attention to his lack of an arm, so to have something that was designed to alleviate this anxiety just showed him how perfect a person Lucius was for him. Further proving this was the fact that Lucius had pulled him into a large hug, burying Quill's face into his chest.

"Don't cry Birdie," He soothed, and Quill chuckled.

"Sorry. It's just that you're so lovely," Quill admitted, leaning up and pressing his lips into Lucius' chin. The blonde was holding him too close to get his lips. "You should probably open your present before I make a bigger idiot of myself."

"You can't be an idiot around me; its impossible," Lucius smiled, removing his arms from around Quill, taking the present from the coffee table and placing it on his lap.

He was less careful when opening his present; he liked the wrapping to look nice, but he also liked getting at the present as fast as possible. He had opened it upside down and was presented with the back of a large picture frame. He turned it around carefully, now showing more care as he didn't want to break whatever his boyfriend had gotten him. When he saw what it was, the smile on his face warmed the entire room.

Quill had made him a map. He had taken the time to draw a map all for Lucius. And it was the most beautiful piece of art in the history of the universe.

"It's not perfect," Quill blushed a little, looking at the gift. "There's a few things that-"

"It is perfect," Lucius said, looking at the map with a large smile. His eyes were almost sparkling. "There is literally nothing that could possibly be improved about this. This, and your beautiful face, should be put in museums as they are the only things in the world that are perfect."

Quill laughed, his boyfriend seemed to love hyperbole. He knew that Lucius would just give him more compliments if he showed any more doubt. "Is it only my face that you think is perfect?"

"Well, there's some other things. But that's hardly appropriate for a Christmas morning, Birdie."

Again, Quill laughed at his boyfriend. "So you like it then?"

"I love it. It's amazing. I can see why you got paid for doing it. And I get one for free. Oh I must be so special," Lucius sighed in his melodrama, and Quill chuckled again. "Where should we hang it. I think putting it over the fireplace is where it deserves to be, but if you'd prefer, we can put it in the bedroom so it can be private. But we have to hang it up."

"I think… maybe over the fire would be nice," Quill smiled, and Lucius beamed again.

For the rest of the morning, the two found themselves enraptured by the other. Eventually, as time had gone by and the eventuality of their friends arriving became more likely, they finally pulled apart from each other and dressed for the day. As he left the bathroom after his shower, Lucius was met with the wonderous sight of Quill inspecting himself in his new cloak in the mirror. He looked beautiful, and if the blonde didn't have wet hair then he would have cuddled and kissed his boyfriend without a second hesitation. But he looked all beautiful and Lucius didn't want to run the risk of him getting soggy.

Quill's insistence that they get dressed apparently was well founded, as the doorbell rung only a few minutes after they had finished getting ready; Quill had decided that he would wear his cloak throughout the day. Lucius had absolutely no complaints, especially as he saw this just moments after hanging his new map above the fireplace.

The three guests came at the same time; apparently Aila had needed help bringing all the food and Sentry had been happy to oblige. As they greeted each other, Sentry realised that the cloak Quill was wearing was the same as the one she had modelled earlier in the year.

She didn't say anything. She just watched the couple with a smile.

After exchanging more presents with each other, Aila began to start cooking. Quill watched her work with curiosity, not having taken her as the cooking type. But as she seasoned all the food, made good use of the broth and the balanced all the times without once looking at the clock. She explained that, after being kicked out of her care home at eighteen, she had taken up cooking seriously; she needed to eat to survive and might as well make the food taste as good as it could be, so trained hard in home-style cooking.

His watching was cut short when Lucius wrapped an arm around his waist and turned him around. Quill looked up to his boyfriend with confusion.

"Look away Birdie. The evil woman is putting your best friend in the oven," Lucius shouted with clear melodrama. Quill could see Aila roll her eyes as she closed the oven door on the turkey. "Don't force yourself to watch. The fact that she's making you eat it is more than traumatising. Don't make it worse for yourself."

"You are the most ridiculous man on the planet," Quill chuckled, looking into his eye. That was when the realisation hit him. "Lucius, I love you."

The words had left his lips before he could stop them, but he didn't feel any regret. It was true, even if their relationship was somewhat new, he loved Lucius. The man was absurd, loud, overly confident, randomly put extended words with a 'y' at the end for no reason, and Quill loved all of it. He was so perfect to be around, Quill loved every moment of it, and he wanted to let his boyfriend know how he felt.

"I love you too, Quill."

Lucius' voice had quivered slightly, and his smile was so honest that Quill found warmth overflow him. They leant towards each other simultaneously, embracing in a kiss. Lucius pulled Quill a little closer, with his arms around his boyfriend's waist. Quill had placed his hand on Lucius' neck to pull him closer.

After they pulled apart, they were both blushing and looking into each other's eyes. They seemed to realise at the same time that they had kissed in front of their friends. That didn't cause them from pulling apart, though.

"Birdie," Lucius smiled. "Look up."

Quill did, and as he looked up, he saw Lucius quickly bring his left hand above them both. He was holding mistletoe, which had been sitting on the countertop beside them. Quill looked down towards Lucius again, smiling softly.

"You really are ridiculous," Quill laughed, leaning up and kissing Lucius again.

"I prefer creative," Lucius defended himself, smiling. "And you're not any less absurd, Birdie."

"Suppose I'm not," Quill admitted.

They leant towards each other again, kissing in each other's arms, surrounded by the people they cared for. It was perfect.


End file.
